Introduction of Glazes into China 133 



where the humidity of the clayish substance was solidified by artificial 

 heat, and thus they were extracted from the soil (e tellure effodimus); 

 or the vessels, after being perfectly finished, were intentionally buried 

 under ground to produce an oxidation of the glaze, which resulted in 

 that well-known iridescence and the rainbow colors accentuated by 

 Pliny. Much ado has been made by the adherents of the mineralogical 

 hypothesis about the juxtaposition of murrine and crystal vases in the 

 relevant passage and in another to be cited presently: this fact has 

 been regarded as one of the strongest bulwarks of the mineralogical 

 defence, which, however, is purely illusory. The union of the two 

 products, previously alluded to, was mainly dictated by commercial 

 considerations, since both were received from the Orient: this is the 

 opinion of Pliny, and no other motive guided him in the choice of this 

 expression. On concluding his chapter devoted to the murrine vases, 

 he passes on to the topic of crystal, and notes that "the Orient likewise 

 sends us crystal, that of India being preferred, and it originates like- 

 wise in Asia." 1 The clause "oriens et hanc mittit," owing to the addi- 

 tion of the particle "et," forcibly points to the beginning of the pre- 

 ceding chapter, "Oriens myrrhina mittit." For the reason that the 

 Orient despatched murrine as well as crystal vessels, they were enumer- 

 ated and discoursed in close succession and combined in speech into a 

 compound of pleasing rhythm. There is no valid reason why we 

 should conclude, that, because the names of the two products are 

 allied, the murrine vases must have been of mineral character. 2 Similar 

 compounds are found in all languages without giving rise to such 

 forced conclusions. We are wont to speak of the tea and porcelain 

 of China as the most characteristic products reaching us from that 

 country; but no one means to imply that tea must be a substance 

 related to porcelain, or that porcelain must be a kind of tea. The 

 Chinese couple jade with porcelain to denote objets de vertu worthy of 

 the collector, and the substances with which both are concerned are 

 as congenial as murrines and crystal. And who will guarantee that 

 the crystal vases shipped from the Orient, according to Pliny, were all 

 of real rock-crystal? They may have been partially of glass as well. 3 

 The price of the murrines was enhanced by their frailty, — again 

 an attribute that thoroughly fits pottery, and most assuredly is not 



1 Oriens et hanc mittit, quoniam Indicae nulla praefertur; nascitur et in Asia 

 (xxxvu, 9, § 23). 



* We shall meet the same alliance in the Chinese texts relative to the Hellenistic 

 Orient, where crystal (including also cut glass) and faience were closely joined in 

 architecture. 



* H. BlCmner, Technologie, Vol. Ill, p. 250, note 6. 



